[Studies on medico-legal diagnosis in cold district. 2. Cadaveric phenomena in low temperature surroundings (author's transl)]

Abstract

The authors have investigated 14 kinds of findings of 15 cadavers in low temperature surroundings which had remained at known postmortem interval and had been subjected to medico-legal autopsies in our laboratory, comparing with those at normal temperature. In low temperature surroundings, the onset and progress of the findings due to autolysis or putrefaction are retarded in a marked degree but the turbidity of the cornea which is considered to be due to physical or chemico-physical phenomenon is retarded merely in a slight degree. Hence, an erroneous determination of the postmortem interval can be avoided by taking care of the peculiarity. Even the cadavers at low temperature display in 3 to 5 months after death the findings whose degrees correspond to those of the cadavers at normal temperature in 4 to 7 days after death. Some fly-larvae pass the winter on cadavers demonstrating that the time of death was towards the end of autumn of the preceding year.